This invention relates to a blasthole drill operator""s cab, and, more particularly, to how the various consoles are positioned in the cab.
A type of drilling equipment known as a blasthole drill is widely used in surface mining and quarrying operations to drill holes of moderate depth. Explosives are lowered to the bottom of these holes and detonated to break up rock and other hard earth formations. This permits the excavation of the material disintegrated by the blast and allows expansion of the area being mined or quarried. This equipment is typically mobilexe2x80x94being mounted on a vehicle that travels on crawlers. The vehicle has a cab for operating personnel and a housing for the machinery that drives the unit. A long, pivoting mast or drill tower is disposed horizontally when the unit is on the move, and is set upright for vertical drilling operations. The mast carries a number of individually stored pipes arranged longitudinally therein. These pipes are connected one at a time in a drill string as a hole is being drilled. A movable carriage off the mast moves down and up the mast as the pipe moves into and out of the ground. An air hose supplies air to the drill string and power lines supply power to the carriage.
Current blasthole drill cab control panel consoles are located in one area of the blasthole drill cab. All controls are located on this panel. The operator must first locate the desired control, whether it is a control to operate the drilling apparatus, the pipe handling apparatus, or the jacking or propelling apparatus, from a sea of controls all on one panel.
Control recognition is difficult due to the large number of switches and controls the operator must distinguish from. A typical drill has roughly 55 controls or one console. Further, the controls are not placed in areas which allow both ready access to the control and visibility of the area which corresponds to the control task about to be performed.
This invention provides a drill comprising a frame supported for movement over the ground in a forward propel direction and a rearward propel direction, a mast mounted on the frame in a generally vertical position, and a drill head moveable up and down the mast. The drill head is selectively engageable with the upper end of a drill pipe so that the drill pipe is raised and lowered out of and into the ground when the drill head moves up and down the mast. The drill further includes means for moving the drill in the forward propel direction, means for moving the drill head to cause drilling, and an operator""s cab positioned on the frame adjacent the mast. The cab includes a first console and a second console spaced from the first console, means on the first console for operating the forward propel means, and means on the second console for operating the drill head operating means.